Thunder Passes
by Vampiric Charms
Summary: Tenzin is more worried about Lin than Lin is for herself, and all he needs is to know she's all right. Spoilers through episode 7 of season 4. Hinted Lin/Tenzin, complete.


_**Spoilers through episode 7 of Season 4**_. This one is set sometime shortly after the last episode, _Reunion_. Once again, hints of Lin/Tenzin in there if you squint that could also pass as friendship. Posted on my AO3 account a while ago, just now posting here. Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Thunder Passes<strong>

The knock on Lin's door sounded hollow, and seconds passed into minutes before she finally answered. It cracked open just enough for her face, blank and expressionless, to emerge there from the darkness behind. Tenzin smiled tentatively at her, not sure yet how his appearance on her stoop would be accepted. She didn't speak, merely narrowing her eyes when she saw him there.

"I wanted to make sure you were all right," he said softly into the silence. None of the lights had been turned on, either in her home or outside it, and he was having a difficult time seeing her. "I know you must have heard about Zaofu and your sister, and, well, I also wanted to be sure you weren't about to do anything stupid."

Lin didn't respond.

"I brought you dinner," Tenzin added, holding up a small basket as if it were a peace offering after his last statement. "Pema packed this for you. She's worried about you, too."

After another moment of consideration in which he truly thought she would turn him away, Lin grunted in allowance and moved away from the door so he could let himself inside behind her as she padded into the foyer to turn on a light. He set the basket on the small wooden dining table near the kitchen in the hopes she would return to eat, but she kept walking toward the interior of her dark home without pause. Not completely dark, though, he realized as he watched her. A single lamp was on in the living room by her favorite chair, where a book was overturned on the seat. A cup of tea was balanced on the windowsill beside the chair, as well. She snatched the book back up to slide a bookmark between the pages and plopped down, making a wide and rather sardonic gesture for him to join her.

"I'm fine."

It was the first time she'd spoken since he had arrived, and her voice, thick and hoarse, didn't sound fine at all. He regarded her warily as he perched on the uncomfortable futon she had apparently traded the plush couch for some time after he had unceremoniously left her life.

"Do I look like an idiot to you, Tenzin?" she abruptly questioned acidly, her gaze on him sharp.

"Of course not!" The placation came too quickly, even if he meant it. He leaned forward, hands tight on his knees as he studied her face. Behind the stubborn mask she was wearing, he could tell she was tired, worn and fraying at the edges. How long that had been going on, he wasn't exactly sure. She could be right on the cusp of breaking or she _could_ be quite fine, just as she said. Lin was difficult to read at the best of times by this point of their broken relationship, and this was far from the 'best of times'; her walls were still closely guarded, especially now.

He cleared his throat, realizing that she had noticed his gaze on her, and lowered his eyes. "You're not planning on going to Zaofu, then? Because that would not be a good idea at the moment."

Lin's inhale was sharp, and alone held all the anger she wouldn't put in words. "No," she spat at him, rising to her feet again to pace across the room. "I'm not an idealist, I know how stupid that would be. If anything, I'd go to whatever prison camp they have my sister held at and raze the place to the ground."

"Lin -"

"But like I said, I'm not an idiot."

"Right," he conceded easily, everything suddenly clicking in his mind that this – her inability to do anything – was where her volatile mood was stemming from. Thinking it was the appropriate thing to say, he kindly added, "I'm sorry, Lin."

She rounded on him immediately, fire in her eyes as she clenched her fists as her sides. "Just – just stop, Tenzin. What are you doing here? Aside from bringing me dinner from your wife and making sure I don't go get myself killed? I'm not sure I fully understand your motives any longer."

"Fine. You win." He broke her furious stare once more, leaning back against the hard cushions behind him and crossing his arms, frustrated that their once easy friendship had turned into this. He knew that was his fault, too, and that only frustrated him even more. "I was worried about you. After we learned about Su, I was worried about…about what it might do to you. So I wanted to make sure you were, I don't know, holding together all right."

To say he was surprised when she came to sit softly beside him on the futon would have been an understatement. But she sighed, pulling her bare feet up under thighs as she leaned back into that stony cushion next to him, their legs nearly touching. He glanced sideways at her, almost worried any movement on his part would send her back across the room again. All of her anger, though, seemed completely drained – and with it went her strength to keep fighting. Her face was so sad it made his stomach twist, and he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms, to tell her everything would be okay even when he did not know the outcome better than anyone else.

"It hurts, Tenzin," she whispered, staring straight ahead unseeingly. "It seems like Suyin and I just made amends, and now she's gone again. What am I supposed to do? Just sit here and wait, when she might end up -?" She choked off the last word, not able to give it breath. "It's killing me, more surely than facing Kuvira's army could."

"We'll find her. We'll get Su and her family back, I promise." He reached out and found her hand, squeezing it with his.

She finally turned her head to face him, her gaze searching for something he couldn't place. "Don't make promises you can't keep," she told him without resentment. It was more a statement of fact, and his stomach dropped again at the layers there.

"I don't intend to," he murmured, sensing then how badly she desired the comfort when she leaned slightly to rest her head on his shoulder. He could feel her measured breathing against his neck when she turned her face inward, moving her entire body closer with a pained sigh. Not resisting this time, Tenzin released her hand so he could put his arm around her waist to give her the space she needed to press herself completely against his side. He lowered his cheek to the top of her head, catching her scent like he hadn't in years.

"I really want to believe you."


End file.
